Mounties Fall In Overtime

Rogers Reed Hill’s shot is blocked by West Memphis defender Kevin Mooney as the time runs out in regulation during their game Thursday in the boys Class 7A State BasketballTournament in Fayetteville.
Rogers Reed Hill’s shot is blocked by West Memphis defender Kevin Mooney as the time runs out in regulation during their game Thursday in the boys Class 7A State BasketballTournament in Fayetteville.

— West Memphis turned up the pressure on Rogers High on Thursday afternoon.

West Memphis forced four turnovers during a late 8-1 run to force overtime and the Blue Devils then made key free throws in the extra period to defeat the Mounties 58-55 in a first round game at the Class 7A State Tournament.

WEST MEMPHIS 58, ROGERS HIGH 55 OT

Rogers 12 4 13 18 8 — 55

West Memphis 7 9 9 22 11 — 58

Rogers (10-18): Killingsworth 13, Jones 13, H. Hill 13, Holt 8, Gentz 8.

West Memphis (16-12): Mooney 15, East 13, Bradford 12, Hyland 12, Gatewood 3, Brown 2.

West Memphis (16-12) will face Springdale High tonight at 8:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

“What we tried to do is pressure before Rogers got back in its halfcourt set,” West Memphis coach Larry Bray said. “I told the kids what ever we do, we have to do it in the backcourt. I thought we did a good job of pressuring the ball.’’

West Memphis trailed 46-39 with 1 minute, 36 seconds left but a 3-pointer off the glass by Rai East with 13 seconds left and two free throws by Kevin Mooney with 5.7 seconds left sent the game to overtime.

Both field goals came after Rogers turnovers. West Memphis scored 22 points off 14 Mounties turnovers, including nine points the final minute of regulation and in overtime.

“You can call it pressure if you want to call it pressure,” Rogers coach Wayne Herren said. “I call it fouling. I guess it is called pressure.”

Bray said the ball bounced West Memphis’ way on the 3-pointer by East.

“There is nothing like blessings,” Bray said about East’s shot.

East then scored six points in overtime, including making 4-of-4 free throws the final 28.7 seconds to seal the victory. Mooney finished with 15 points while East added 13.

Freshman Jake Killingsworth, Hunter Hill and Zach Jones all scored 13 points each for Rogers. Killingsworth scored 11 points in the fourth period and overtime.

But Rogers was hurt when Hill fouled out in the fourth period while point guard Keifer Holt fouled out in overtime after scoring eight points.

“Losing Hunter was huge, he is our leading scorer,” Herren said. “Losing Keifer probably hurt even more because it takes away your point guard. But I am very proud of my team. We fought hard and competed well.”

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